Trip
to Luxembourg
Every
now and then you get to do something a bit special so a couple of
weeks ago I went on a club outing for a long weekend to Vianden in
Luxembourg. It has a chateau and the area has some wonderfully bendy
roads to enjoy and not a lot of traffic,
On the way with a stop to check navigation.
The Chateau with menacing black clouds.
What was there were locals
in cars and bikers from all over. I saw plates from Germany, Holland
and Belgium enjoying the roads. Bike groups were everywhere some
taking life easy, you can do nothing else on a 125 there and others
being a bit too quick.
I did see the aftermath of one accident and
that was between three cars at a tee junction. Some of my colleagues
from the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcycle Club did have a few spills
from youthful exuberance with only minor injuries to the bike and
pride. I did nearly 1000 miles on this trip, first in glorious
sunshine and returning in drowning rain. I did finally finish off my
disc pads and replaced them as soon as I got back in preparation for
the MOT this week.
The Valiant became incontinent while I was away
and peed petrol over the garage floor and flooded the sump so an
immediate oil change was requited and a new tap insert fitted. This
one failed because it was a non-original replacement and needed to be
longer to seal properly but only by a millimetre or two. I missed
that Monday after that weekend at the Museum so this week, after
returning from Coventry on Sunday I was ready for a light day. Only
three people arrived and the last one through the door was a
gentleman from Portugal, Pedro Pinto, He is a journalist and is
putting together a book on the history of Triumph motorcycles in
Portugal. He has known the importers personally for many years and
knows how and why they started up. The Triumph name has been around
for many years and at first bicycles were imported then later,
motorcycles. One of the importers was Harry Hartley who was a war
hero, saving many lives through his actions in the middle east. He
was frequently out on his bike scouting around and his observations
and reports undoubtedly saved many. Pedro brought some presents with
him, among them were Triumph Owners of Portugal key fobs and a brochure for
Pachancho.
There is nothing in the Illustrated Encyclopaedia about
this Portuguese make that is predominately 50cc motorcycles and
mopeds. There is even a 50cc racer that has a rigid rear end and
looks very vintage with the main frame loop sweeping around the
crankcase.
The racer! The moped.
More reason for Pedro to visit was his interest in the
Coventry Eagle Flying 8. The big 1000cc JAP vee twin. He also has a
500cc single. He is looking for information about Coventry Eagle
motorcycles and their history. I passed him on to the Coventry
Transport Museum and the VMCC. If you have information about Coventry
Eagle Motorcycles please contact Pedro on pedrobppinto@gmail.com
I headed home on the Valiant to get a quick turn around and be on my
way to one of the biggest motorcycle events taking place at this time
of the year. I had not been there before and I needed to have a look
and hand out fliers for the Museum.
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